Tuesday, 25 January 2011

My girlfriend saw these the other day, thought of me and bought me a bag. I immediately opened them to see what I could taste, the first flavour that came through was a definite sausage/bacon taste closely followed by egg. I continued munching all the crisps hoping for more flavours to surface but that was it. Walkers mention Sausage, egg, bacon, tomatoes and buttered toast but I could not detect the buttered toast or tomatoes. A friend of mine hit the nail on the head recently when he told me "They remind me of a dirty fart in that it leaves a bit of an eggy aftertaste in the mouth."

Sunday, 23 January 2011

Moonlight Cafe can be found opposite Anglia Square on Magdalen Street. If you like to smoke and eat at the same time fear not, the table outside will keep you happy.

The tables by the window are perfect for people watching and the view of Anglia Square is simply stunning. Although fairly empty when I arrived the cafe was full by the time I left.

The breakfast menu is varied, reasonably priced and available all day. Perfect for those days when you have a killer hangover and don't make it outside till late afternoon!

A good selection of condiments sit on each table, the ketchup is very runny though so Heinz fans may well despair.

The tea here was perfect, the tea bag is left in the mug when it arrives so you decide exactly how strong you want it.

The angled cut in the toast made it a bit tricky to make a neat looking bacon toasty but it was hot when it arrived and the serviette on the plate was a nice touch.

I ordered extra black pudding (purely for research purposes of course!) Buried treasure was lurking under those perfectly round fried eggs.

A whole uncut slice of fried bread! A rare find these day and a welcome surprise.

The sausages although jumbo are about economy as they come, edible but an award winning banger they are not!

Plate empty and hangover almost gone, I will be returning but will be giving the sausages a miss next time.

Whenever I walk into the city I usually pass Moonlight Cafe on Magdalen street, the plates of food people are eating always at a glance have looked quite nice. A friend of mine had mentioned it a number of times saying he liked it but avoid the sausages. Hungover from drinking far too much wine the night before I decided to finally give it a try and although pre-warned about the economy sausage situation I just had to try those too...

Upon entering - The cafe has a seating area at the front with the serving hatch to the left, there is another seating area at the rear by the kitchen. Menu's are on every table so grab a seat and the waitress will soon be along to take your order. Everything was really clean and the cafe had a welcoming feel to it. 8/10

Service - The waitresses were cheerful and efficient. I ordered the full english breakfast and later realised the traditional breakfast was a better option as it had fried bread, the waitress was happy to change my order. Everything arrived at just the right time too, first the tea, then the fry up and shortly after that the toast. Im not somebody who likes to eat the toast first so it was nice to eat it hot with everything else. 9/10

Presentation - There was a lot of food on the plate and it sat quite neatly together. Buried underneath the fried eggs was the foundation for this a fry up, a whole uncut slice of fried bread. 7/10

Thefood - I am not a fan of economy sausages and although cooked nicely these tasted a bit like chewing on slightly meaty tasting foam. The black pudding was very crumbly but tasted good and the bacon was cooked nicely. The fried eggs were perfectly round and had perfect yolks that went really well with the good slice of fried bread. The tomatoes were large tasty slices and the beans were good with a thick juice. 6/10

Value for money - The prices were reasonable as you can see from the menu photo above. Extra's cost around 80p and tea was 90p a mug. 7/10

Veggie option - 2 veggie options or build your own

Overall - The food is cooked well, the place is clean and the staff are friendly. I would however prefer to spend slightly more and be served a better quality sausage but thankfully there is a sausage free option on the menu. This place is well worth a visit and fans of fried bread should definitely give it a look. 7/10

The dark corner I choose to sit in wasn't the best for taking photos and the presentation wasn't amazing.

But when everything on the plate tasted so nice it didn't really matter.

It tastes so good you won't want to leave a thing.

The Murderers is somewhere I don't really spend any time in these days, a few years back though I was often in there drinking the £1.95 pints of Castlemaine or eating omelette and chips. We popped in for a few drinks between Christmas and New year and I noticed they had a breakfast menu on the bar. I returned on my day off to see if their fry up was up to scratch...

Upon entering - I was familiar with the layout and nothing seemed to have changed. The right hand door at the front of the pub takes you into the cafe/bar area, some tables look out onto Timber Hill and plenty more tables can be found up the stairs near the counter. The pub is full of character with plenty of wooden beams, exposed brickwork and hidden cubby holes. Menu's can be found on each table, you order at the counter when you have made your choice. 8/10

Service - I placed my order at the counter and the friendly person serving me was happy to have a chat. They told me to take a seat and they would bring everything I needed. The tea arrived and a short time later the food followed. 8/10

Presentation - Although I was initially blown away by the sight of so much fried bread lining the plate I couldn't help then noticing the slightly messy baked bean explosion that was stealing the limelight from the sausage and the egg. 6/10

The food - A truly delicious and juicy pork sausage, well cooked but tasty bacon, nice and crispy fried bread, an almost perfect fried egg, good fried mushrooms, tomatoes that actually tasted of tomatoes and nice stodgy baked beans. 8/10

Value for money - £4.25 seemed like a really good price, tea was just 90p too. 8/10

Veggie option - I don't recall seeing a veggie fry up but plenty of other veggie breakfast options were available.

Overall - I have always loved the Murderers and the whole breakfast experience was a good one. Great environment, central location, friendly service and good food will not leave you disappointed. The food was a real pleasure to eat and restored my faith in tomatoes again, they actually tasted of something! It is always great to come across stogy beans too, I love them. Many cafe's charging similar prices are serving cheap economy ingredients, good on the Murderers for serving good quality food at a great price! 8/10